2020 De Martino, Legado, Chardonnay, Limari Valley, Chile
Critics reviews
The 2020 Legado Chardonnay was produced with fruit from Limarí, fermented and aged in barrel for 13 months. It's subtle and austere, with moderate alcohol and high acidity, pretty much in the house style of restraint and freshness, trying to bring out the minerality from the soils. It's light and fresh, with elegant flavors, very clean and precise, serious and harmonious, with a dry finish. 25,733 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2021.
Drink 2021 - 2024
Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate (Aug 2021)
About this WINE
De Martino
De Martino is one of the most progressive and exciting names on the Chilean wine scene, deservedly named Chilean Winery of the year in 2011. Through a network of intellectual partnerships and vineyard acquisition, it has quickly built up a reputation for organic viticulture of the highest quality, farming from over 350 different vineyards.
The corporate vision focuses on sustainability, terroir, and, by logical extension, excellence. By concentrating on the very best sites for the varieties in question, be they in Limari, Elqui or Maipo, and by the development of a world class winemaking team, De Martino now sits at the very top of the Chilean vinous hierarchy.
The Alto Piedras vineyards make up 5 hectares of the sub-Denominacion of the Isla de Maipo, a de facto island as the vines are surrounded by two branches of the Maipo River. Two other self-evident truths are located in the nomenclature; firstly that the terrain is rocky, volcanic gravel to be precise and secondly that the vines are quite high up. Chile’s indigenous grape, Carmenère, is here aged for 18 months in new French oak.
Limari Valley
The Limari Valley is seen as the most exciting and innovative wine-producing region in Chile. It is located 400 Km to the north of Santiago and only 20 km from the Pacific Ocean. Great natural phenomena seem to converge here with not only the ocean, but also the arid Atacama Desert and the Andes Mountains all close by.
The vineyards are deprived of rainfall in spring and summer, a problem addressed by a series of reservoirs, canals and pipelines bringing water down from the mountains.
This is region famed for the clarity of its skies and the purity of its air and mineral-rich soils; this natural benevolence has been harnessed by winemakers such as Jose Pablo Martin of Tamaya (one of region's most avant-garde wineries) and is captured in the wines, which are typically free from chemical or other forms of intervention.
The valley is planted with a range of grapes, predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon (720ha), Merlot (190ha), Carménère (124ha), Syrah (112ha) and Chardonnay (134ha)
Chardonnay
Chardonnay is often seen as the king of white wine grapes and one of the most widely planted in the world It is suited to a wide variety of soils, though it excels in soils with a high limestone content as found in Champagne, Chablis, and the Côte D`Or.
Burgundy is Chardonnay's spiritual home and the best White Burgundies are dry, rich, honeyed wines with marvellous poise, elegance and balance. They are unquestionably the finest dry white wines in the world. Chardonnay plays a crucial role in the Champagne blend, providing structure and finesse, and is the sole grape in Blanc de Blancs.
It is quantitatively important in California and Australia, is widely planted in Chile and South Africa, and is the second most widely planted grape in New Zealand. In warm climates Chardonnay has a tendency to develop very high sugar levels during the final stages of ripening and this can occur at the expense of acidity. Late picking is a common problem and can result in blowsy and flabby wines that lack structure and definition.
Recently in the New World, we have seen a move towards more elegant, better- balanced and less oak-driven Chardonnays, and this is to be welcomed.
When is a wine ready to drink?
We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.
Not ready
These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.
Ready - youthful
These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.
Ready - at best
These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.
Ready - mature
These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.
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Description
The 2020 Legado Chardonnay was produced with fruit from Limarí, fermented and aged in barrel for 13 months. It's subtle and austere, with moderate alcohol and high acidity, pretty much in the house style of restraint and freshness, trying to bring out the minerality from the soils. It's light and fresh, with elegant flavors, very clean and precise, serious and harmonious, with a dry finish. 25,733 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2021.
Drink 2021 - 2024
Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate (Aug 2021)
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